(t5!)AVQ&A: Biggest Gap Between The Best And The Rest
Where I answer questions and pretend to be part of The A.V. Club staff. In true (t5!) fashion, I’ll try to provide the best five answers I can think of. The best things always come in fives.
What artists have the biggest gulf between their best work and the rest of their work? I think my pick would be The Appleseed Cast with Low Level Owl Volume 1and 2, which are fantastic, but the rest of their albums don’t even begin to compare. Another pick could be Nas with Illmatic. What do you guys think?
#01: Jason Alexander
Well, his best work is one of the best TV characters of all time (2nd only to Homer Simpson, who has a sizable advantage due to his animated-ness), so it’s not inconceivable that everything he did before and after Seinfeld pales in comparison. George Costanza was a flawless personification of a loser, encapsulating underachievement in so many classic moments you most likely have committed to memory. Remember the pre-rehearsed comeback, “Oh yeah, the Jerk Store called, they are running out of you!” only to be zinged right back by a much wittier adversary? Or, when he fought over a parking space until nightfall, authenticating his dedication by proudly disclosing his unemployment? Whenever I want to feel better about my life, I watch an episode of Seinfeld, because Costanza proves to me that there’s always someone in the universe that has it way worse.
To help with the gap though, not only was Jason Alexander’s Seinfeld work a runaway, his other work were complete dinks too. You can chalk it up to the Seinfeld curse that hassled the entire cast. However, even before the show was inducted the greatest television sitcom in TV history, Alexander wasn’t being awarded award-winning roles either. Take your pick as to what his second best role is: the miserable douche bag in Pretty Woman who wanted a piece of Julia Roberts? The sniffling dismissive prosecutor from Jacob’s Ladder? The equally shallow friend of the eponymous hero of Shallow Hal? None of them holds a candle to Costanza.
#02: Richard Ashcroft/The Verve
The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony” is all kinds of terrific, exhibiting a new technique for guitar bands to create music: properly steal a strings sample from The Rolling Stones, loop it until it’s exhaused, and rock it out like the apocalypse is coming tomorrow. Furthermore, the video was a gigantic key to its success because whenever I listen to it now, all I want to do is walk unwaveringly in a straight line and bump into unsuspecting pedestrians like I’m the biggest arse in the world. It came out of nowhere in the late nineties, probably even more so if you weren’t familiar with the band before. Releasing a monster hit like this invites a borderline obsessive-compulsive music fan like me to sift through Richard Ashcroft’s entire discography. But regrettably I just wasted my time with boring anguished shoegaze and mediocre Brit rock.
#03: Kathryn Bigelow
With The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow was able to create an intense and compact non-political Iraq war movie on a limited budget, and made it pretty much impossible to deny her with the Best Director award in this year’s Oscar—the first woman to ever receive the distinction. But if you told me before The Hurt Locker came out that the director of Point Break, Strange Days, and K-19: The Widowmaker would win an Academy Award one day, I would’ve probably questioned your sanity. Point Break was entertaining in an unintentional comedy, exaggerated action sequences kind of way, but it was never getting praised for its cinematic prowess.
#04: Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Clarkson is incredibly lucky. It’s not because she was chosen by America as their first American Idol; a lot of past winners have had difficulty extending the fifteen minutes of fame that the show had brought them. She’s lucky because universe-renowned songwriters Max Martin and Dr. Luke Gottwald entrusted a reality show victor with this empowering break-up anthem “Since U Been Gone” when they have no basis to do so other than the verity that she has trumpeting vocal chops. They could’ve pitched this to Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, or someone who has bigger background. I didn’t know from what I heard from “A Moment Like This”, or “Miss Independent” or “Breakaway” that this girl had this all-or-nothing performance in her. She tried to replicate the success with “My Life Would Suck Without You” and “I Do Not Hook Up”, but they weren’t the same. And now she’s gotten fat too, so good luck succeeding in Hollywood with that.
#05: Stacey Dash
Obviously, all five of these are personal choices but Stacey Dash’s inclusion in this list is deeply personal. After seeing Clueless, I had the biggest crush on her in spite of being just a sidekick to skimpy-dress-wearing, stepbrother-loving Alicia Silverstone. As I was reading this AV Question, she was actually the first one that popped in my head because I remember waiting for another movie or TV show (the Clueless TV remake doesn't count) that she would star in, which would allow her to recapture my imploring heart. My wishes were never granted until a very brief role as Kanye West’s girlfriend in the “All Falls Down” video.
What artists have the biggest gulf between their best work and the rest of their work? I think my pick would be The Appleseed Cast with Low Level Owl Volume 1and 2, which are fantastic, but the rest of their albums don’t even begin to compare. Another pick could be Nas with Illmatic. What do you guys think?
#01: Jason Alexander
Well, his best work is one of the best TV characters of all time (2nd only to Homer Simpson, who has a sizable advantage due to his animated-ness), so it’s not inconceivable that everything he did before and after Seinfeld pales in comparison. George Costanza was a flawless personification of a loser, encapsulating underachievement in so many classic moments you most likely have committed to memory. Remember the pre-rehearsed comeback, “Oh yeah, the Jerk Store called, they are running out of you!” only to be zinged right back by a much wittier adversary? Or, when he fought over a parking space until nightfall, authenticating his dedication by proudly disclosing his unemployment? Whenever I want to feel better about my life, I watch an episode of Seinfeld, because Costanza proves to me that there’s always someone in the universe that has it way worse.
To help with the gap though, not only was Jason Alexander’s Seinfeld work a runaway, his other work were complete dinks too. You can chalk it up to the Seinfeld curse that hassled the entire cast. However, even before the show was inducted the greatest television sitcom in TV history, Alexander wasn’t being awarded award-winning roles either. Take your pick as to what his second best role is: the miserable douche bag in Pretty Woman who wanted a piece of Julia Roberts? The sniffling dismissive prosecutor from Jacob’s Ladder? The equally shallow friend of the eponymous hero of Shallow Hal? None of them holds a candle to Costanza.
#02: Richard Ashcroft/The Verve
The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony” is all kinds of terrific, exhibiting a new technique for guitar bands to create music: properly steal a strings sample from The Rolling Stones, loop it until it’s exhaused, and rock it out like the apocalypse is coming tomorrow. Furthermore, the video was a gigantic key to its success because whenever I listen to it now, all I want to do is walk unwaveringly in a straight line and bump into unsuspecting pedestrians like I’m the biggest arse in the world. It came out of nowhere in the late nineties, probably even more so if you weren’t familiar with the band before. Releasing a monster hit like this invites a borderline obsessive-compulsive music fan like me to sift through Richard Ashcroft’s entire discography. But regrettably I just wasted my time with boring anguished shoegaze and mediocre Brit rock.
#03: Kathryn Bigelow
With The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow was able to create an intense and compact non-political Iraq war movie on a limited budget, and made it pretty much impossible to deny her with the Best Director award in this year’s Oscar—the first woman to ever receive the distinction. But if you told me before The Hurt Locker came out that the director of Point Break, Strange Days, and K-19: The Widowmaker would win an Academy Award one day, I would’ve probably questioned your sanity. Point Break was entertaining in an unintentional comedy, exaggerated action sequences kind of way, but it was never getting praised for its cinematic prowess.
#04: Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Clarkson is incredibly lucky. It’s not because she was chosen by America as their first American Idol; a lot of past winners have had difficulty extending the fifteen minutes of fame that the show had brought them. She’s lucky because universe-renowned songwriters Max Martin and Dr. Luke Gottwald entrusted a reality show victor with this empowering break-up anthem “Since U Been Gone” when they have no basis to do so other than the verity that she has trumpeting vocal chops. They could’ve pitched this to Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, or someone who has bigger background. I didn’t know from what I heard from “A Moment Like This”, or “Miss Independent” or “Breakaway” that this girl had this all-or-nothing performance in her. She tried to replicate the success with “My Life Would Suck Without You” and “I Do Not Hook Up”, but they weren’t the same. And now she’s gotten fat too, so good luck succeeding in Hollywood with that.
#05: Stacey Dash
Obviously, all five of these are personal choices but Stacey Dash’s inclusion in this list is deeply personal. After seeing Clueless, I had the biggest crush on her in spite of being just a sidekick to skimpy-dress-wearing, stepbrother-loving Alicia Silverstone. As I was reading this AV Question, she was actually the first one that popped in my head because I remember waiting for another movie or TV show (the Clueless TV remake doesn't count) that she would star in, which would allow her to recapture my imploring heart. My wishes were never granted until a very brief role as Kanye West’s girlfriend in the “All Falls Down” video.
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